Automatic multiple-spindle lathe



J. C. POTTER.

AUTOMATIC MULTIPLE SPINDLE LATHE.

7 $HEET$$HEET 1.

ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 28, 1920.

v APPLICATION FILED MAY I4. 1917. 1,363,751.

J. C. POTTER;

AUTOMATIC MULTIP LE SPINDLE LATHE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 4, 19H.

Patented Dec. 28,1920.

ISHEETS-SHEET 2- lNl/E/VTOR 6% ATTORNEY J. C. POTTER. AUTOMATIC MULTIPLE SPINDLE LATHE.

APPLICATION FITED MAY1'4, I917. I 1,363,751. Patented Dec. 28,1920.

7S HEETSSHEET 3.

/ l/I III/I/ll/IIl/YI/I Q INVENTOR 6% m .V I

(LL ATTORNEY -J. C. POTTER. AUTOMATIC MULTIPLESPINDLE LATHE.

I APPLICATION FILED MAY14, l9l7- I I 1,363,751. I Patented Dec. 28, 1920.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

IN VE N TOR BY Mm I. c. POTTER. AUTOMATIC MULTIPLE SPINDLE LATHE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 14-, I9.

Patented Dec. 28, 1920.

mo 6 O INVE/VTOR 35 I 31 30 ATTORNEY J. c. POTTER.

AUTOMATIC MULTIPLE SPINDLE LATHE.

' APPLICATION FILED MAYH. 19171 1,363,751 Patgnted Dec. 28, 1920.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 6.

7 ATTORNEY k UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

nuns c. roman, or rnw'rnoxn'nnnonn Isnmn I AUTOMATIC MULTIIPIE-SPINDLE LATHE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Pate t d D 28 1520 Application filed ma 14. 1917. Serial No. 168,506.

To all whom it my concerns 'Be it known that I, JAMES C. Po'r'rnn, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Pawtucket, in the county of Providence, and in the Stateof Rhode Island, have m- 0 My invention relates to metal working.

machines and in particular to multiple spindles lathes, or screw machines, that is lathes of the type having a plurality of rotatable work spindles and a plurality of tools that 3 act simultaneously upon work in the respective spindles. As ordinarily constructed,.lathes, or screw machines of this type have the spindles and the tools arranged in a circle and the various tools perform at the go same time different parts ofthe series of operations required to complete the'job. The time required for the various tools in performin their respective operations varies. Thus, 1f there be fourspindles and four tools, the four operations may take respectively, one, one, two and three minutes, and the output of the machine cannot be. faster than the time required for the longest operation upon a' piece, which in the case put, would be three minutes. The output would thus be one piece every three minutes. The

actual time consumed per piece is the actual working time for" the longest operation plus the time (which is small) for indexing, or rotating the series of spindles between the stages of work, The main object of myinvention is to provide a multiplespindle lathe capable of faster work, or greater output in a given time, and with thls object in view and also the production of a machine that will require a minimum of personal attention, my invention consists in the'lathe havmg the characteristics of construction substantiallyas hereinafter specified and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings- Figure 1 is' a vertical longitudinal section of a lathe embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is; an end elevation with parts a broken away and one of the spindles shown in cross section;

Fig. 3 is 'a cross section on a vertical plane [in rear of the chuck ends of the spindles,

said ends being shown in elevation on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. i'is a cross section on a vertical plane between the turret slide and the cross slides, and looking toward the latter;

' Fig. 5 1s a View illustrating the gearing, the parts, however, not being shown in exactly their positions in the machine but shown arranged somewhat differently in the interestof clear illustration;

F1g. 6 is an end elevation of the turret sllde and turret with parts in section;

Fig. 7 is an end view thereof partially in section showing parts in the position they occupy in the beginning and end of a tur-' I ret indexing operation;

F g. 8 is a similar view to Fig. 7 illus trating the parts during indexing;

F-g. 9 is a detail view in longitudinal section of the clutch controlling the driving of the spindles;

Fig. 10 is anend view partially in section of said clutch;

Fig. 11 is a detail view in longitudinal section of the clutch mechanism of the feed shaft.

It will conduce to a readier understanding of the machine shown in the drawings as an embodiment of my invention to give preliminarily a general description thereof. In such machine there are provided three work spindles arranged in a straight line and always occupying the same position, that is to say they. are non-indexing; there are a series of tools for each of the work spindles, there being thus three sets, or series of tools and they are carried by a turret having indexing mechanism by which the tools of a series are successively brought into operative position, said turret being carried by a slide are being performed upon the work in the three spindles; there are cross slides for carrying forming tools; and there is a main driving shaft receiving motion from asuitable source from which power is' taken to bring about automatically and. in proper time relation the movements of the various members, or elements of the organization.

It will be seen that simultaneously similar operations are being performed upon a number of pieces of work,thre e in the case of the three spindle machine shown in the drawings, and simultaneously the work on three pieces is completed and assuming-that'each piece of work requires four operations and the respective operations require one, one,

two and three minutes, it will be seen that three pieces of work are done in seven minutes or at the rate of one piece in two and one-third minutes, a gain of two-thirds of a minute over the ordinary type multiple spindle lathe, which as has been pointed out requires three minutes per piece. If instead of using three spindles, as in the machine shown in the drawings, a greater number be tionately cut down.

The base, or frame 10 of the machine shown in the drawings is chambered, or hollowed, so that it incloses as well as supports many of the moving members of the machine. Mounted in suitable bearings thereon are three horizontal spindles 11, '12 and 13, arranged parallel with each other, and in a horizontal line. Each of said spindles is, or may be of ordinary construction, that is to say, is tubular, or hollow for the passage therethrough of the rod-form stock and having at one end a collet in the spindle nose for clamping the work so that it revolves with the spindle, the opening and closing of the collet for releasing and clamping the work being automatically effected, as usual,

by fingers 14, a sliding sleeve 140 and a cam operated yoke 15; and each spindle having a cam operated reciprocating stock sleeve 16 by which the work, or stock in the form of a rod, or bar is fed through the spindle for projecting beyond the spindle nose the amount of stock necessary for a new, or fresh piece of work.

Keyed to each of the spindles for revolvmg the same is a gear wheel, that on the spindle 11 being designated 17, that on the spindle 12 being designated 18 and that on the spindle 13 being designated 19. Meshing with the two gears 17 and 18, is a pinion 20 by which the two spindles 11 and 12 are revolved and meshing with the two gears 18 and 19 is a pinion 21 by which motion is transmitted from the spindle gear 18 to the spindle gear 19 to revolve the spindle 13. The pinion 20 is on a shaft 22 that has on one end a gear 23 which meshes with a pinion 24 on a shaft 25, which by any one of several trains-of gearing, presently described, may be driven at different speeds from the main shaft 26 upon whichis a band wheel, or pulley 27, all of said shafts bemg mounted in suitable bearings in the machine frame, or base 10 above the work spindles. Upon the main driving shaft 26 are three gears 28, 29 and 30, of graduated diameter, which, respectively, mesh with gears 31, 32 and 33, that are adapted, one at a time, to be clutched to the shaft 25 and thereby drive the latter at different rates of speed, and accordingly drive the three work spindles at different rates of speed. As will appear, these three changes of speed are automatically controlled and still further changes of spindle speed may be effected by changing the gears 23 and 24, which are ordinary hand change gears. The gear 31 which drives the shaft 25 and the spindles at the lowest speed, is clutched to the shaft 25 only when the other faster speed gears 32 and are unclutched therefrom and a type of clutch is employed for the gear 31 which automatically clutches the provided, the tlme per piece will be proporgear 31 to the shaft when neither the gears 32 nor 33 is acting, and which, when either of the faster gears 32 and is acting permits either of said gears to become the driver by reason of the greater speed at which they drive the shaft 25 when clutched thereto. The clutch device employed for the gear 31 is of the familiar roll type shown in my Patent No. 1,072,648, issued September 9, 1913. The clutch device for each of the gears 32 and 33 is of the same construction. Each consists of a cylindrical shell 330 to which the gear is connected so that the two rotate together, a cylindrical clutch head 34, which-is keyed to the shaft 25, and a pair of clutch shoes 35 lying between the clutch head 34 and the circumferential part of the shell 33, which shoes are normally and yieldingly held out of contact with the shell 330 and retained in an annular groove, or recess in the head 34 by the action-of a spring 36 connected at one end to the shoe and at its other end to a pin near the bottom of a radial hole in the clutch head. Between the adjacent beveled ends of the two shoes is a radially slidable wedge 37 having a stem 38 fitting a radial hole in the clutch head 34. There are two wedges 37 diametrically opposite each other, and when they are moved radially outward it will be seen that they crowd, or force the shoes outward and cause them to bear against the inner circumferential face of the shell 33 and thereby clutch the gear 32, or 33 connected with said shell with the shaft 25. At the inner end of each wedge stem 38 and in a prolongation of the radial hole in which said stem is slidable, are three balls 39. The

middle ball of the three is contiguous to, or

may be engaged by the pointed, or tapering end 40 of a rod, or pin'41 connected with a slidable collar 42 situated between the two such devices of the gears 32 and 33,

plunger 43 is mounted in the clutch head 34. For radial adjustment of each wedge 37 each contains a screw 38, which at the inner endof the wedge stem is adapted to engage the outermost ball. It will be understood thatthe-clutch collar 42 carries two rods 41,-one for each clutch mechanism, and said collar 42 may be moved to a mid-position where neither rod 41 will act upon the intermediate ball, and hence, both gears 32 and 33 will be unclutched from the shaft 25, and hence, the gear 31 which drives the shaft 25 at its lowest speed will be in driving connection with the shaft 25." Engaging the clutch collar 42 at one end is a bell crank lever 44, whose other end is connected by a link, or pitman 45 with one end of the bell crank lever 46, whose other end is in the path of a series of dogs 47 on the face of a dog drum 48, which by its revolution brings the dogs 47 successively into engagement with the bell crank lever 46 and thereby cause the automatic changing of the gear connections between the main driving shaft 26 and the shaft 25 and thence to the spindles.

It is desirable that the feeding movements of the turret and cross slide tools, that istheirmovements while cutting, shall be transmitted from the main driving shaft through, or in connection with-the spindles, so that a desired ratio of spindle speed and cutting feed shall be preserved, and it is also desirable that the nonfeeding, or idle movements ofthe tools shall take place as quickly as possible, and this is accomplished by causing such movements from the main driving shaft independently of the spindles; In the machine shown in the drawings, as embodyin my invention, these things are accomplished by the provision of a shaft, which for convenience of designation I shall term a feed shaft, from which all movements of the turret and cross slides are derived, and which may be so geared up, or connected with the main driving shaft as to be driven therefrom independently of the spindles and at a high and constant feed, or connected with the spindles so that its motion is received through, or in connection with them and therebyhas a speed that is dependent upon the speed of the spindles. Power is also taken from said feed shaft to drive the dog drum 48, which automatically causes the change of spindle speedsfandalso the feeding and quick idle speeds of the feed shaft, and also the impartation of motion to the stock clamping and feeding devices of the spindle.

' The feed shaft 49 (see Figs. 3, 5 and 11) has loosely mounted upon it two gears, one

of which 50,-is connected by a train of gear ing with the spindle gear 17, and the other gear 51 is connected by a train of gearing with the main shaft 26, and elther of said -meshes with and receives motion from a said sleeve is a toothed clutch member 79 ears 50 and 51 at a time may be clutched to he feed shaft 49, or both at a time may be unclutched therefrom so that said shaft 49 will not be driven by either. The gear 50 pinion 52 on a shaft to which is connected a gear 53 meshing iwith a pinion 54 on a shaft 55. Loose upon the shaft 55 thereare three gears 56, 57 and 58 of graduated size, any one of which at a time may be clutched to the shaft 55 to drive the same, and meshing respectively with said three gears are three gears 59, 60 and 61, also of graduated size, fixed to a shaft 62. The shaft 62 is connected by two sets of hand change gears 63 and 64 with a shaft 65 to which is secured a gear 66, which meshes with and receives motion from the spindle gear 17, and thus at three speeds which are automatically selected by the clutching of any one of the gears 56, 57 and 58 to the shaft 55, or at other speeds which may be secured through the change gears 63, feeding speeds are transmitted to the feed shaft 49. Each of the gears 57 and 58 is a clutch gear and between them is situated a clutch collar 67, which is keyed to the shaft 55, and which may clutch either of said gears 57 and 58 to said shaft or be placed in a neutral position. The collar 67 is shifted to its three different 9 positions by a lever 68, upon a rock shaft 69 and a lever 70 on said rock shaft whose free end carries a pin, or roller, that is in the path of successively acting dogs 71 on the face of thedog drum 48 (see Fig. 1). The gear 56 on the shaft 55 revolves at the lowest speed, and it has an automatically acting roll clutch, such as that shown in my beforementioned patent, which, when the shaft 55 is driven at either of the high speeds 11 permits said shaft to run away from the gear 56. and it is only when the gears 57 and 58 become inactive by being unclutched from the shaft that the gear 56 becomes the driver of shaft 55. On the feed shaft 49 1 (see Fig. 11) is keyed a friction clutch head, or disk 72 surrounded by a clutch band 73, which is adapted to be frictionally connected with said head by the action of a radially movable pin, or wedge 75, whose outward 1 clutching movement is effected by a pin 7 6 having a beveled end that engages the inner end of. the wedge, and is carried by a slidable clutch collar 77, the clutch construction being an ordinary friction clutch and of the 1 type shown in detail in Figs. 9 and 10, for driving the shaft 25. The clutch shell, or

rim 73 is carried by a sleeve 78 loosely mounted on the feed shaft 49 and keyed to adapted by the sliding movement of the gear 51 to engage with the clutch teeth on the face of the latter and thereby connect said gear 51 through the friction clutch with the feed shaft 49 when the members of said 1 clutch are secured together by the movement of the clutch collar 77 and thereby the feed shaft 49 will be driven at the high constant speed desired for the idle movements of the tools. The gear 50 which has a slower movement than the gear 51 is mounted loose on the hub of the clutch member 79 and when the gear 51 is unclutched, said gear 50 is adapted by an automatic friction clutch 80 of the type shown in my beforementioned patent to transmit movement through the sleeve 78, and the friction clutch connected therewith to the feed shaft 49,

vand thus impart the feeding movements to the shaft by way of the spindle connection. When the gear 51 is clutched to the shaft 49, the automatic friction clutch 80 permits the shaft 49 to run away from the gear 50. When the clutch members 72 and 73 are disconnected, it will be seen that neither gear 50 and 51 can transmit motion to the feed shaft 49. The clutch collar 77 is automatically moved at predetermined times by the action of a lever 81 on a rock shaft 82 to which is connected a lever 83, whose free end is in the path of dogs 84 on the dog drum 48. The gear 51 is automatically shifted to clutch and unclutch it by a lever 510 pm a shaft 511 (see Fig. 1) which carries a lever 512 whose end is in the path ofdogs 513 on the cam drum 48.

For the revolution of the shaft 49 independently of the spindles, power from the main driving shaft 26 is transmitted through a train of gears which includes a gear 85 on a shaft 86 having a sprocket wheel 87, which is connected by a sprocket chain 88 to a sprocket wheel 89 on a shaft to which is connected a gear 90 that meshes with a gear 91 on the main'driving shaft 26.

Provision is made for imparting a slow motion in either direction to the feed shaft 49 for the purpose of setting up tools and locating the dogs on the dog drum, for it will be remembered that the movement of the turret and cross slides and dog drum are derived from the feed shaft 49. For this purpose the feed shaft 49 has on one end a miter gear 92 which meshes with a similar gear 93 on a shaft 94 having on one end a miter gear 95 with which either of two opposite miter pinions 96 on a shaft 97 may be meshed. On the shaft 97 is a gear 98 meshing with a pinion 99 on the shaft 86 that derives motion from the main shaft 26. Thus according to whether one miter pinion or the other is in mesh with one miter gear 95, the feed shaft 49 will be revolved in the one direction or the other at a slow rate of speed. Normally both miter pinions 96 are in a mid, or neutral position out of mesh with the miter gear 95. The miter pinions 96 are shiftable along the shaft 97 by a the feed shaft and either of the gears 50 and 51, which would obviously be disastrous, I provide means for rendering it not possible to shift either of the miter pinions 96 into mesh with the miter-gear 95 unless the gears 50 and 51 are unclutched from'the feed shaft 49. This is accomplished in the machine shown in the drawings by connecting a locking device with the rock shaft 82 by which the movements of the lever 81 for operating the clutch collar 77 clutch, or unclutch the friction clutch rim, or shell 73 to the shaft 49. Said locking device consists of a vertical bolt 104 attached at its lower end to a crank arm 105-on the rock shaft 82, and which at its upper end is movable into and out of a notch. 106 in the under-. side of the handle bar 103. When the looking bolt 104 is withdrawn from the notch 106 in the handle bar which happens when the clutch collar 77 is shifted to an unclutching position, the handle bar 103 may be moved to cause the meshing of either miter pinion 96 to the miter gear 95 and not until said handle bar 103 is moved to a neutral position where neither miter pinion 96 meshes with the miter gear 95 is it possible I to shift the clutchcollar 77 to cause clutching engagement of'the friction clutch with the feed shaft 49 by which either gear 50 or no matter by which of the three trains of gearing the feed shaft 49 is driven from the main driving shaft 26. I, therefore, provide on the shaft 94 a worm 107 which meshes with a worm wheel 108 on a shaft 109 on which the dog drum 48 is secured and thereby the dog drum derives its motion from the feed shaft 49. Also on saidsha'ft 109 is the cam 110 for reciprocating the slide 111 for rocking the yokes 15 to accomplish the opening, or closing of the spindle collets, or chucks. The slide 111 acts upon said yokes 15 by an auxiliary head 112 which is shiftably mounted in ways in the slide 111 and which has for each of the levers 15 a, pair of lips 113 which engage the lever ends upon opposite sides and thereby impart the desired to and fro movement to the levers 15. Between the sets of lipsfor the levers are spaces so that by shifting said auxiliary head 112 longitudinally, the lips may be moved out of engagement with the levers and thereby it is rendered possible to, rock each of the levers manually by a handle 114 so as to open the spindle chuck, or collet for putting new stock in the spindle. A spring actuated latch pin 115 by engaging either of two notches 116 in the underside of the auxiliary head latches the latter in either its position for automatically actuating the levers 15, or in its position where it is disengaged from them.

Also on the dog drum shaft 109 is mounted the cam 117 engaging a roller 118 on a slide 119, which engages the stock feeding sleeve 16 and thereby moves the latter in the direction for getting a fresh feeding grip on the stock within the spindle. Feeding movement of the slide 119 is effected by a weight 120 that is connected by a cord 121 with the slide 119.

Also upon the dog drum shaft 109 is mounted the cross slide operating cam 122. In the machine illustrated in the drawings there are two cross slides, or members 123 for carrying the forming tools. Said members are not literally slides because they differ from the ordinary cross slide in that instead of bein slidably supported on the bed of the mac ine they have a compound movement made up of a composite of longitudinal and transverse movements in a curvilinear path, such motion being the solution of thediflicult problemwhich my arrangement of: the multiple spindles, along sideof each other in a line, presented.- By

this movement each forming tool for the three spindles is able efiiciently and completely to get access to the work and to perorm its operations. As a matter of convenience I will use the term cross slide in referring to the members 123. One of said cross shdes is located above the row of spindles and the other below them. In each case the slide is pivotally connected to one arm of a pair of hell crank levers 124, which are pivoted at their elbows to the frame 10 .of the machine, and the two other arms of the pair of levers are connected by a link 7 125 so that the desired parallel motion of the cross slide is produced in its travel to- .ward and from the work carried by the spindles; For each of the cross slides there is a cam actuated lever 126, which in the case of the lower cross slide is directly connected with the pivot of one of the bell crank levers 124 and in the case of the upper cross slide the connection is by means of a pitman 127 attached at one end to the cross slide and at the other end to a crank arm 128 secured to the pivot shaft 129 of said lever 126. In the case of the lower cross slide 123 gravity may be depended upon to cause the movement'of the cross slide away from the spindles, while in the case of the upper cross slide a coil spring 130 connected at one end to one of the bell crank levers 124 and at the other to the a cam drum 135 which engages a roller 136 on the underside of the sllde 134. Secured to the cam drum 136 at one end thereof is a worm gear 137 (see Figs. 1, 3 and 5) with which meshes a worm 138 with which worm is connected a miter pinion 139 that meshes with a'similar pinion 140 on the same shaft with a gear 141 that meshes with a gear 142 on the feed shaft 49. and thus motion is transmitted from the feed shaft to the turret slide reciprocating cam drum 136. To

one end of the turret is secured the plate, or disk 143 of a Geneva stop motion, the driving member 144 of which is on the same shaft with the worm wheel 145 in mesh with the worm 146. The worm 146 has a clutch face 147 adapted to be engaged b a sliding clutch pinion 148 loose on t e worm shaft 149 with which meshes a pinion 150 on the shaft 97 which pinion'is splined to said shaft so that it may rotate therewith, while at the sametime movable longitudinally of the shaft so that in all POSltlOIlS Of the turret slide the gears 148 and 150 will be in mesh. When the gear 148 is clutched to the worm 146, itwill be seen that the latter will receive motion from the continuously running shaft 97, and thereby theturretrotated from one tool station to another, or through a fifth of its revolution, so as to change the set of working tools. For automatically shifting the clutch gear 148 to engage with the worm 146, there-isv a bell crank lever 151 having one end in engagement with a grooved collar, or hub on the clutch gear 148, and at its other endhaving a dog 152, which in the-rearward movement of the turret slide engages the inchned face of a cam plate 153 secured to the frame, or base 10 and thereby cause the rockmg of the bell cranklever -151. The dog 152 is pivoted so that upon the reverse movement of the turret slide it will trip over the cam plate 153. The movement .of the bell crank lever 151 by the action of the cam 153 is also utilized to retract a turret locking bolt 154,

which at one end is connected to an arm 155 of said lever 151, and at its other end is adapted to engage in successlon any one of a circular series of five locking notches 156 in the edge of a locking disk 157 connected with the turretat one side of the I gear 148 from theworm 146. There is, of

course, enough lost motion of the clutch gear by the bell crank 151 to unlock the turing the locking notch 156 of the station de-' sired to be skipped,'which filling would thus prevent the movement of the locking bolt, and in consequence prevent the disengagement of the clutch gear 148 from the worm and the indexing rotation of the turret would continue until an open notch 156 should be presented to the locking bolt 154.

It will be seen that all of the motions of the machine shown in the drawing are obtained from power applied to and transmitted from the pulley 27 and by maklng such pulley of the friction clutch type the clutch of which is actuated by a hand lever 156, the entire machine may be started and stopped bythe simple manipulation of sald hand lever.

Preferably, the end of the shaft 9 1 is squared, as shown in Fig. 1, for the application of a hand crank to permit, should it be desired, of putting the machine through its motions by hand.

While the entire organization found in the machine shown in the drawings is therein adapted to a multiple spindle lathe, it is to be understood that I do not limit my invention to an embodiment ina machine having the construction and organization of parts found in the machine illustrated in the drawings, and it is also to be understood that certain combinations of elements are capable of use'in other types of lathethan the multiple spindle type and, therefore, the scope of my claims is to be determined in the light of this explanation.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is 1. A lathe having a plurality of work spindles, means to rotate the spindles simul taneously and atdifferent speeds comprising a pinion receiving motion from a suitable source of power, gears on two of the spindles with which said pinion meshes, a gear on a third spindle and an idler between said third spindle gear and the gear of one of.

the other spindles, and means for subjecting work held by said spindles to the successive action of several groups of tools.

2. A lathe having a driving member. a plurality of work-spindles, a recipr c ble holder having means for supporting a plurality of rows of tools, the rows lwing adapted for successive action, a gear connection from said driving member to said spindles to revolve them and to said reciprocable holder whereby spindles and holder simultaneously receive motion,"said gear connection comprising means that directly revolve at least two of said spindles, and all the spindles revolving in the same direction, and an independent high speed connection from said driving member to said holder.

3. A lathe having a driving member, a

plurality of work-spindles, a ireciprocable holderhaving means for supporting a plurality of rows of tools, the rows being adapted for successive action, a gear connection from said driving member to said spindles to revolve them and to said reciprocable holder whereby spindles and holder simultaneously receive motion, said gear connection comprising means that directly revolve at least two of said spindles, and all the spindles revolving in the same direction, and an independent high speed connection from said driving member to said holder.

4. A lathe having a driving member, a plurality of work-spindles, a reciprocable holder having means for supporting a plurality of rows of tools, the rows being adapted for successive action, a gear connection from said driving member to said spindles to revolve them and to said reciprocable holder, whereby spindles and holder simultaneously receive motion, said gear connection comprising means that directly revolve at least two of said spindles, and all the spindles revolving in the same direction, and independent high and low speed connections from said driving member to said holder.

5. A lathe having. a constant speed driving member, a work spindle, a to and fro moving tool holder, a driving connection be tween said driving member, and said spindle and said tool-holder, and an independent low speed connection between said driving member and said tool holder.

6. A lathe having a constant speed driving member, a work spindle, a to and fro moving tool holder, a driving connection between said driving member and said spindle and said tool-holder, and an independent reversible low speed connection between said driving member and said tool holder.

7. A lathe having a constant speed driving member, a work spindle, a to and fro moving tool holder, a driving connection be tween said driving member and said spindle and said tool-holder, an independent high speed connection between said driving member and said tool holder, and an independent low speed connection between said driving member and said tool holder.

8. A lathe having a constant speed driving member, a work spindle, a to and fro moving tool holder, a driving connection between said driving member and said spindle and said tool-holder, an independent high speed connection between said driving member and said tool holder, an independent low speed connection between said driving member and said tool holder, and means to prevent simultaneous action of said several con nections between :the driving member and similar and one for each spindle and the tools of the different sets being dissimilar, "and means for bringing the various sets successively into action, those of the same set acting simultaneously on the work.

10. A lathe having a power shaft, a spindle, a tool holder, a feed shaft for imparting movement to the'tool holder, clutch mechanism forconnecting the feed shaft to the power shaft, means for revolving the feed shaft independently of the power shaft at a different rate of speed, and means to revent the operative connection of both said feed shaft driving means simultaneously.

11. A lathe having a plurality of work spindles arranged in a row, means to rotate them, and a cross slide adapted to carry a plurality of tools for the respective spindles mounted for movement oblique to the row of spindles.

12. A lathe having a row of work spindles arranged in a row, a stationary support for them, a holder for a plurality of rows of tools, means for indexing said holder, a cross slide for a plurality of tools mounted for movement oblique to the row of spindles, and means to move the cross slide to present its plurality of tools for simultaneous action on work in the spindles.

13. A lathe having a row of work spindles arranged in a row, a stationary support for them, a holder for a plurality of rows of tools, means for indexing said holder, a cross slide for a plurality of tools, a parallel motion support for the cross slide mounted for movement oblique to the row of spindles, and means to move the cross slide to present its plurality of tools for simultaneous action on work in the spindles.

' 14. A lathe having a row of work spindles, a stationary support for them, a holder for'a plurality of rows of tools, means for indexing said holder, a pair of independent cross slides on opposite sides of the row of spindles, and automaticmeans to move said cross slides.

15. A lathe having a row of work spindles, a cross slide for a plurality of tools, and a movable support prising swinging arms connected therewith at separated points.

16. A lathe having a rotatable hollow work spindle, and automatic means to clamp and release the stock in the spindle, comprising two cooperating cam-actuated members, one of which is shiftable to disengage it from the other.

1.7. A lathe having a plurality of rotatable hollow work spindles, each having automatic stock clamping and releasing means, comprising a lever, and a cam-actuated slide, and a separable connection between the slide and each of said levers.

18. A lathe having a power shaft, a revolving member, a clutch to connect and disconnect the power shaft and said member, clutch-operating mechanism, including a rock shaft, a handle, and a bar actuated by the rock shaft interlocking with the handle controlling the connection of another rotating member with the power shaft.

n testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set myAlfirlildq. C POTTER F. u

for said cross slide com-' 

